> Hi: > > Last week the hard drive in my Tivo (Satellite/DVR ) died and had > to be replaced. So now I am really concerned about the HD in my > computer. > > This is what I have - > > Hardware Overview: > > Machine Model: Power Mac G4 > CPU Type: PowerPC G4 (3.3) > Number Of CPUs: 1 > CPU Speed: 1.25 GHz > L2 Cache (per CPU): 256 KB > L3 Cache (per CPU): 1 MB > Memory: 1.25 GB > Bus Speed: 167 MHz > Boot ROM Version: 4.4.8f2 > > What is the easiest/cheapest method to provide a back up? Can I put a > second HD inside the machine? I've heard of the external HD's, but I have > already maxed out my connection/inputs (USB hub). Where is a good place > to shop for the backup?
It would be easy to put a second hard drive in that machine, and it just takes a standard PC IDE hard drive. It is easy to buy those almost anywhere that sells anything to do with PCs (office supply stores, Circuit City type places, online stores, etc.)
And you could back up to that to protect yourself against your current hard drive failing.
But if you have it in the same machine, you don't get any protection against something catastrophic happening to your machine. You get more protection from an external hard drive.
The machine you describe should have firewire too - have you used that port? Because you could get an external firewire drive as another option.
The question you don't answer, which is important, is what operating system you are using. Because once you have a hard drive (or something else) to backup to, you still need software to do the backups with.
Leopard (OS 10.5) has built in software called Time Machine to do exactly this. Depending on what your backup needs are, that may work for you. It is easy to use, and it does what it does very well.
